Ideas

From May 31–June 1, 2019, the Institute for Advanced Study hosted a remembrance in honor of Jean Bourgain, Professor in the School of Mathematics for twenty-four years. The public event brought together colleagues, friends, and collaborators to...

Who makes a paper every week,
and every month a new technique,
and founds new branches every year,
and does not know the sense of fear?
And legends—whom d'you hear about?
And if you met him you'd be proud.
Of course, he made his early traces
in the...

On the connections between math and physics, including some of the outstanding questions in quantum gravity, quantum field theory, and number theory.

Watch "The Primacy of Experiment," a talk by Kyle Cranmer, Junior Visiting Professor in the School of Natural Sciences.

Natalie Wolchover, Director's Visitor (2017), interviews Freeman J. Dyson, Professor Emeritus in the School of Natural Sciences, and Karen Uhlenbeck, Visiting Professor in the School of Mathematics, on the close interconnection between mathematics and physics.

Watch "The Universe Speaks in Numbers: Backstory," a talk by frequent Director's Visitor Graham Farmelo.

Nima Arkani-Hamed, Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, and Thomas Lam, von Neumann Fellow in the School of Mathematics, discuss the fruits of their recent collaboration and the benefits of math-physics collaboration more broadly during the The Universe Speaks in Numbers eventon May 29, 2019, at the Institute for Advanced Study.

There are two labyrinths of the human mind: one concerns the composition of the continuum, and the other the nature of freedom, and both spring from the same source—the infinite. —Baron von Leibniz

"During World War II, when von Neumann was...

On May 29, 2019, the Institute for Advanced Study hosted a celebration of The Universe Speaks in Numbers by frequent Director's Visitor Graham Farmelo. The public event, which was held on the centenntial of the 1919 eclipse that provided the first experimental verification of Einstein's theory of relativity, brought together some of the world's foremost science communicators for an afternoon of talks discussing the close relationship between mathematics and physics.

Watch "The Shapes of Spaces and the Nuclear Force," a talk by Gregory Moore, Professor at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey  and past Distinguished Visiting Professor (2016) in the IAS School of Natural Sciences.